Is Texas Investigating Big Pharma (Again)?

Two doctors at the Terrell State Hospital, one of ten state-run psychiatric hospitals, resigned last week amid allegations they took money from a pharmaceutical giant in exchange for hawking the drug maker's anti-psychotic to state regulators. Records from the Department of State Health Services indicate that an investigation by the state Attorney General's Office triggered the disciplinary action.

And if that's the case (the AG's office won't talk about the investigation) it wouldn't be the first time Texas officials have targeted Big Pharma for surreptitiously pushing to expand the use of anti-psychotics in the state's publicly-funded health care system.

DSHS sent letters accusing the two doctors -- Anthony Claxton, Terrell's clinical director, and Lisa Perdue, a psychiatrist at the hospital -- of pocketing tens of thousands of dollars in speaking fees and travel reimbursements from the London-based drug maker AstraZeneca. In return, DSHS alleges, Claxton and Perdue approached members of a state committee that sets drug standards in Texas, the state Executive Formulary Committee, pushing the company's anti-psychotic drug Seroquel.

According to DSHS's warning letters, which were first obtained by the Texas Tribune last week, both doctors admitted to the allegations when questioned under oath during an AG inquiry into the matter. The nature of that investigation remains unclear -- a DSHS rep deferred our questions to the state AG's office, saying "the AG's office would need to speak to their own investigation," while an AG rep told us, "It's the policy of our office not to confirm or deny the existence of any possible investigations."

Read more: http://blogs.houstonpress.com/news/2015/04/is_texas_investigating_big_pharma_again.php